Koos van Elk 1952-2022

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Koos van Elk. Koos passed away on 7 June at the age of 70 years. Since October 2017 he suffered from ALS, a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control.

Koos studied macro-economics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He started his career in Pakistan as expert for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1984 he joined EIM to be involved in a variety of studies on the manufacturing industry. Together with Joop Vianen, Jacqueline Snijders and the undersigned he initiated and developed the internationalization of EIM. He was heavily involved in the annual reports of the Observatory of European SMEs (1992-2004), dealing a.o. with complicated telephonic surveys in 30 countries and many languages. He was also responsible for several studies on SMEs and standardization, and the internationalization of EU SMEs. Most of these studies were conducted in cooperation with ENSR partners.

In 2014 he left Panteia in an attempt to save jobs of younger colleagues, a gesture demonstrating his social heart.

We will remember Koos as a hard-working, willful, very intelligent and experienced colleague, with whom many of us have worked in a very pleasant way.

On 31 May I met Koos for the last time. I had the opportunity to thank him for decades of team spirit and collegiate nature. We will commemorate Koos on Sunday 12 June. May he rest in peace.

Rob van der Horst